Pressure Cooker Chicken Fillets, Basis for Savory Pies Etc

kiwidutch's Note:

I have experimented with this until I'm finally happy with it... no, delighted with it. I use chicken breasts because it saves the hassle of picking out the bones, bonus time saver. It makes a great chicken basis for fillings such as: chicken pastry pies, chicken ragout, chicken pasta and chicken potato dishes, and if followed until Step 9, also for my Chicken lasagne recipe... I use this to get great healthy and hearty flavour without too much time and effort. It makes a lot, but it freezes well.. if it ever gets that far because it never takes long to disappear ! My not-so-fussed-on-chicken-DH actually likes this too. The recipe is so much easier and illogically, faster... if you start it the night before (I have this on while I'm cooking dinner, then let it cool, refrigerate the lot overnight and next day all you have to do is discard any fat and the rest is easyville) If you have spring onions or leeks or zucchini that need using then throw them in as well. The instructions are long, but mega easy. Cooking time includes overnight refrigeration time. ZWT REGION: The Netherlands.

• Total Time: 12 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 12 hrs
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4-6

Yield: 2.0 baking ...

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 kg chicken breasts (4.4 lb)
• 3 -4 celery ribs , roughly chopped
• 3 small onions , diced
• 3 carrots , peeled and very roughly chopped
• 3 garlic cloves (minced)
• ¼ head broccoli
• 2 heads endive (roughly chopped)
• 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 3 tablespoons fresh tarragon (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground pepper

Sauce

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• chicken stock (will be self made from this recipe)

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in the bottom of the pressure cooker, toss in the onions, celery and garlic and sauté gently for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper.
2. Add the carrot chunks, layer the fresh herbs on top (without removing leaves from the tough stalks), then place the chicken fillets on top of that, followed by the broccoli, endive and any other veggies I want to throw inches
3. DO remember however, that the pressure cooker should not be more than 3/4 full. Fill pressure cooker with water about 1/3rd to 1/2 full. your chicken and veggies should *not* be swimming, but there should be enough water to make some decent stock so eyeball the amount of water that you think is about right according to your volume of chicken.
4. Seal, and once it's up to pressure, cook on moderately high element for 30-40 minutes (depends on how much chicken I'm doing at once).
5. Turn off the heat and let it de-pressurize as slowly as possible. this slow-er cooling seems to improve the flavour.
6. Once the pressure is off enough, take off the lid and let it cool completely.
7. Usually I refrigerate the whole lot overnight and the next day I can just disgard any hardened fat.
8. Carefully remove the chicken pieces and roughly slice -- mine usually obligingly falls to pieces.
9. Discard the woody bits of the fresh herbs.
10. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, then add the flour, stir so that there are no lumps and add several cups of the chicken stock liquid. stir until sauce has thickened somewhat, adding as much chicken stock liquid as you need to make a firm but not overcooked sauce, you don't want rubber LOL. (Mine is approx 5-6 cups for the whole mix) using a ladle, scoop out all the carrot, onion, mushed broccoli etc and add it to the sauce, mixing well. Let it cool, then add the chicken and mix well, you should have a firm ragout type mixture packed with chicken pieces.
11. This mixture comfortably fills TWO 23x23 cm (9 x 9 inch) baking dishes.
12. I can now use this mixture to use in my Pressure cooker Chicken Pastry Pie, Pressure cooker Chicken Potato Bake and if made up until Step 9, for Pressure cooker Chicken Lasagne.

Reviews

[SYNXFAN]

Wonderful recipe! I would suggest making one change though: once the cooker is up to pressure, turn the heat down to LOW. After I made this the first time, leaving the heat up on med-high after the cooker was up to pressure, the stock itself was good but the chicken came out very dry, tough, and tasteless. After reading multiple articles about simmering instead of boiling (http://www.ihowd.com/how-to-boil-chicken , http://www.bonelesschickenrecipe.com/Chicken-Articles/how-to-boil-chicken.php ) I made it a second time but after the cooker came up to pressure I turned the heat down to low and it came out perfect!

[Jenk]

Great staple recipe. I made chicken and dumplings the with it the first night. Froze 6 more portions for future meals. Just thawed some, and baked it with potatoes, for a great, fast meal. Only change I made was that I did not use endive. None to be found here in rural southern Iowa. I did throw in some kohlrabi that I had from the garden. I plan to make more, and can it, for my college age son with limited freezer space. Thank you for a great staple to my families winter meals.